Earlier this week, The Guardian reported that the University of Michigan hired private investigators to track pro-Palestinian campus activists. Since then, the university's interim president, Domenico Grasso, has announced that it is cutting ties with private companies whose plainclothes investigators had been surveilling the campus, including City Shield, based in Detroit.
In a statement, the university said that the company was hired to provide general security of campus and was not instructed to follow individual students.
"We recently learned that an employee of one of our security contractors has acted in ways that go against our values and directives. What happened was disturbing, unacceptable, and unethical, and we will not tolerate it," the statement said.
Josiah Walker, who's been active in campus demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza, is one of the students who told The Guardian about his experiences with plainclothes investigators on campus.
Over the past year, Walker said he became increasingly concerned that he was being surveilled. While working on campus last summer, he said, he kept seeing the same people, both on foot and in vehicles, following him into buildings and around town. They also captured photos and videos of his activity on and off campus.
Walker said the people seemed to be working as a team to track him.
“One of the surveillance operatives would spot me, and that would kind of trigger a domino effect where, you know, the rest of them would kind of pop up in the area, and what they do is they form a bubble around me.”
The Guardian report included an recorded exchange between Walker and an alleged private investigator. Walker recorded the interaction with the person who he said he had already run into two weeks earlier at a protest.
Walker said the man accused him of making the recording in order to mock an unspecified disability.
“He turned around and, like, at the top of his lungs, he started yelling, ‘You think it’s funny to record disabled people? What are you going to do, post it on YouTube so you and your friends can laugh at it like this?’” Walker recalled.
When he recognized the person weeks later, Walker questioned him about his claimed disability, and again recorded the interaction. The person began to make ambiguous gestures with his hands, but did not respond directly to Walker's questions.
Although UM said it will be terminating all contracts with external vendors to plainclothes security on campus, Walker said he is not convinced that the university will follow through.
Walker said he considered the possibility of retaliation from the university or the investigators after sharing his recordings with reporters, but he's confident he did the right thing.
“I used to tell myself when I was younger, you know, it’s okay to be afraid. Do it while afraid. That’s the very definition of courage. And I was like, okay, it looks like I have to pull from that playbook. And so I did.”
Stateside reached out to both City Shield and the University of Michigan. City Shield did not respond. The University of Michigan pointed to two statements regarding campus security. The latest statement from June 8 reads, in part:
“In July of 2024, as part of our security strategy, it was decided to augment our organic resources with outside firms to use plainclothes security personnel — a common approach for large, high-traffic areas such as hospitals, sports venues, shopping malls, and college campuses. These individuals were intended to help us keep watch over our campus and enable us to respond quickly to emergencies. However, we are clear: no individual or group should ever be targeted for their beliefs or affiliations.”
The statement goes on to say that UM will terminate all contracts with external vendors providing plainclothes security and encouraged "anyone who sees or experiences inappropriate behavior ... to contact DPSS [the university's Division of Public Safety and Security] or the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office, where staff will promptly address all reports."
Update, June 12 at 10:05am:
Michelle M. Bassett, spokesperson for City Shield Security Services, provided the following statement:
“City Shield Security Services has a strong history of protecting people and property as a nationally leading provider. We are aware of recent reporting and are investigating the matter. We take all complaints seriously and investigate them rigorously, ensuring appropriate actions and professional standards. We respect the need for client and protection services confidentiality and as a standard industry practice do not discuss the details of those services or contract, which would obviously undermine the protection provided.”
Editor's note: The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
